When in the summer of 2009, two volunteers kindly donated twenty drums to Dharma Drum Mountain in Vancouver (DDM Vancouver), Venerable Guo Shu, encouraged by the Director of DDM Vancouver, formed a drum-playing group - the Drum Team of DDM Vancouver.

Venerable Master Sheng Yen once said that Chan is a part of life. Activities in one’s daily life, such as drinking coffee, eating, watching the rain and even enjoying the view, are all Chan practices; Chan is ubiquitous.. Writing therefore is also a course for Chan practice.

On Sunday, September 13, Venerable Chang Wen gave a talk entitled, "Wisdom is Humility" at CMC. Venerable talked about the importance of humility in Chan practice and gave instructions on how to use humility as a method of practice.

When 4 visiting Venerables came from Taiwan to Sydney in July 2009, DDM Australia took the opportunity to organize a weekend meditation camp for over 25 of its members and friends at the Baden-Powell Scout Camp. Ven. Guo Guang, Vice- Dean of DDM Sangha University conducted the sessions with assistance from Ven. Guo Chi, Ven.Chang Xiang and Ven. Chang Xu.

On Sunday, August 2, 2009, Venerable Chang Hwa gave a talk on the topic of “How to Love.” Venerable engaged the audience with thought-provoking questions, stories and instructions on practices on how to love and be loved.

On Sunday, August 16, 2009, Dr. Peter Lin gave a talk entitled, “Facing Financial Crisis” at CMC. He focused on psychological research related to financial crisis and human happiness, interacting with the audience with questions and interesting research findings.

On July 26, 2009, Dr. Rebecca Li gave a talk at CMC on the topic of "Cultivating the Bodhisattva Path at Work." According to Dr. Li, the bodhisattva path is the practice of trying to benefit others, and as a result, benefit ourselves.

On the 14th of July, the Abbot President Venerable Guo Dong arrives at the Dharma Drum Mountain Chan Meditation Center in New York to unveil his caring activities and to speak to his New York's followers.